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How Will Earth Cope With 9 Billion People?


World Experts In NZ To Work Out How The Planet Will Cope With 9 Billion People

World experts are meeting in Auckland tomorrow to work out how the planet is going to cope when the population reaches 9 billion people in 2050.

They're attending the fourth international conference on Sustainability, Engineering and Science at the University of Auckland from Wednesday, 1 December to Friday, 3 December.

"Before 2050, when the population will reach 9 billion, our global civilisation faces one of its greatest challenges - how to match our demands to the limited resources of the planet," says Dr Carol Boyle, the chair of the NZ Society for Sustainability Engineering and Science (NZSSES), which is hosting the event. "Business as usual will not be enough to ensure the ongoing viability of our communities. We need radical changes in mindsets, behaviour and whole systems to avoid the collapse of our social structure, our economic structure and our environment.

"It sounds scary because it is scary. For example, we know we will be facing shortages of oil, possibly as soon as 2015, which will have significant effects on transportation and production of goods. We are still unsure of the impacts and the potential effects on the NZ economy but we do know the cost of not facing up to global warming, energy shortfalls, and water and food production will only increase the longer we wait to deal with them.

"The changes we need to make in the coming decades are fundamental and urgent. It requires leadership from scientists, engineers and designers to create a future that serves the needs of the people, while protecting our planet. That's why we're hosting this conference," says Dr Boyle.

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One of the key speakers at the conference will be Dr Peter Head from the UK who was named by Time magazine in 2008 as one of the world's 30 global eco-heroes. A civil and structural engineer, he is an adviser to the Singapore Government on green buildings and infrastructure, a world leader in bridge building and, in 2002, was appointed by the Mayor of London as an independent commissioner on the London Sustainable Development Commission.

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